Effects of an X-ray absorber in Grazing Exit Micro X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Arsenic Attached to an aqueous leaf of Cammelia hiemalis

Abstract

Grazing exit micro X-ray fluorescence analysis (GE-μ-XRF) using an X-ray absorber method was applied to an analysis of Pb attached to an aqueous leaf of Cammelia hiemalis. As a result of the analysis, we found that X-rays emitted from the surface region of the leaf could be detected selectively and then X-rays of Pb could be detected with low background using this analytical method. In this research, an effect of the X-ray absorber was indicated by comparing between X-ray spectra gained with and without use of that. However, since Pb was not attached to a leaf analyzed for this comparison, peak/background ratios of the X-rays of Pb using the X-ray absorber were not compared with those without use of the X-ray absorber. Moreover, X-ray exit angles did not correspond with each other between with and without use of that. We, therefore, applied the GE-μ-XRF to an analysis of As attached to a leaf of Cammelia hiemalis, and then investigated the effect of the X-ray absorber at identical X-ray exit angles with and without use of that. As a result of that, we found peak/background ratios of X-ray peaks of As with use of the X-ray absorber drastically increased at grazing exit angles as compared to those without use of that. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2009.841]